Our tolerance for big time Black screw-ups

By Wondem Wolde-Emanuel

January 27, 2006

Boutros Boutros-Ghali as an Egyption in charge of the United Nations and Meles Zenawi, as a masked Eritrean agent in charge of state power in Ethiopia, were a perfect match who turned Ethiopia’s littoral status into a landlocked nation in 1991. Though misleadingly projected as an Albanian Marxist, Meles was in reality in the opposite camp, discussing his rebel-day strategies not with Enver Hoxha but with Jimmy Carter, the former US president who in his recent essay revealed that he had warned Meles not to do a lasting damage to “his country, Ethiopia.” It was his intention to do a lasting damage, anyway, and Meles handed over Ethiopia’s undisputed Red Sea territory to his motherland – break-away Eritrea. Meles Zenawi’s life as a disguised Eritrean agent ended in 2001 when the second-layer of the TPLF leadership, ostensibly Ethiopian, accused the Eritrean layer headed by Meles of signing the Algiers Agreement and abruptly ending the Ethiopia-Eritrea War in such a way it rescues Asmara from the utter defeat it was heading for. The defeat of the Ethiopian class of TPLF was summed up by Gebru Asrat, the former Tigrai governor who, at the end of his long essay, sarcastically congratulated both the Shaebia (Eritrean) camps in Asmara and Addis Ababa. Today Ethiopia is at the mercy of a mercenary regime that has staffed itself with all sorts of hirelings money can buy, and the brutality of the security forces in the wake of very peaceful civil disobedience justifies that. Those who perceived Meles as a leader of an occupation force have resorted to an armed struggle; and those who believe in the power of civil disobedience have stuck to it. The trend, moreover, looks like there would be a blend of armed struggle and civil disobedience to dislodge the ruling clique Ethiopians see as the worst enemy in their history.

For a relatively long time now, starting with the Egyptian Butros Butros Gali, the African Continent and its inhabitants have been suffering much under the care of ‘colored’ officials. It is not an accident but, by design. The smart neo-colonizers who have been profusely grilled and blamed for their blunt and disguised discriminatory and exploitative ways have finally found the remedy in appointing those who look like us, from amongst us, and make them adminster International organizations and their branches. These poor souls are made to take the fall for simply following orders or policies adopted, implemented and controlled by the powers to be, the white community. If they protest or make some noise, they would throw some dirt at them, which are not new to the institution, such as taking bribes, or engage in the act of nepotism etc., to practically make them a lame duck, shut them up and jerk them around.

It is against our belief and tradition to attempt to ruin our pride and confidence in ourselves by attacking a few of our kinds who have hardly climbed the ladder of such success and prominence. We feel we will be insulting or denigrating the black race, if we say anything bad about those whose skin looks like ours, administering international and global organizations, even when their actions, or the lack thereof, directly and adversely affect our lives and future. It seems the overwhelming majority of us are afraid to talk about the truth and wish the problem will go away when the tenure of blacks in higher positions end. Obviously and in no time would we turn around and complain that we have been discriminated, if black faces are not seen in leadership positions. Until we say no to any and all forms of exploitations and incompetence, we will continue to suffer a lot and for a long time, as the white establishments have found the art of adminstering in a round about way, by proxies, than directly governing and taking the heat to be a safe, relaxing, less risky and a highly profitable way of doing business. The Black Officials who know their meaningless, but painful stay in such positions, without reform or change of paradigm, will not resign or even threaten to do so when they know they are played like a spade and sometimes treated like a bunch of children. We, on the sidelines, have chosen to see them, and thereby ourselves, to be continuously used and abused.

Our Motherland, against the stated laws of the Charter of the League of Nations, has been illegally and brutally disintegrated under the leadership of Butros Butros Gali. It has been made a guinea pig for secession.We later learn from himself that Gali was not only a proxy but, as an Egyptian, had a vested interest in breaking Ethiopia apart . Making it a weaker nation would force it to live by the threat and decision of Egypt of how much water and where to utilize, even when its people are dying in astronomical figures, as a result of famine caused by persistent drought. Egypt has now complicated the matter by involving a new and stronger partner, Israel, for our waters and the rich soil it washes away and carries to their barren regions to continue to fertilize their desert lands. Butros Gali has even encouraged the application of force by predicting the usage or distribution of water resources to be the main reason for future wars. It is not difficult to guess on which water and between which countries he may have based his theory on. I believe, he has given us an insight of the intentions and the future foreign policy of his Country. As always, Meles, without consultation and decision of the Ethiopian people has recently made a deal with Egypt. The stiff struggle that is threatening his autocratic rule locally seems to be much for him to handle and he may be avoiding the interference of Hosni Mubarrak in his domestic affairs.

When the population of Rwanda was being wiped out in the hundreds of thousands by ethnic cleansing, the world was made to ignore their plight and focus on the civil war in the former Ugoslavia led by America. Kofi Annan, the Ghanian Seecretary General of the UN, was blamed later for sitting in the position of responsibility and doing nothing about it. We have witnessed an almost homogenous State of Somalia becoming a lawless society. Today, the Arabs and Janjaweeds ( Arabs and African mixtures who consider themselves Arabs) in the Sudan are unleashing genocide on Blacks. The Leaders of the UN and the USA State Department are BLACKS! The UN and the AU may take pride in stopping or slowing down the genocide in the Sudan but, the truth of the matter is that there are only few communities that have survived the genocide and the Sudan government found it unnecessary to continue to summarily wipe out these villages. They are now burning refugee centers and attacking individuals and groups that have escaped their large scale mass murders.There are so many nations and tribes that have and continue to suffer while the Brothers and Sisters in the United Nations (UN) or the African Union (AU) with big titles simply sit in their reclining seats and watch these atrocities with their arms folded and their mouths zipped. We have read the congratulation letter the Deputy chairman of the African Union wrote to Meles Zenawi, while the tyrant rigged votes, declared victory and his private army was indiscriminately killing and imprisoning those civily and peacefully protesting for their votes and rights to be respected, as valued citizens. The acts of Meles were all against the clearly stated Charter of the African Union. To the ‘credit’ of AU higher management, Patrick Mazimhaka, the Deputy Chairperson, is still holding the same position he had to continue to do the usual ‘right thing’ and pass a ‘just verdict’. What a disgrace he is to himself, his family, his homeland that has suffered much in the hands of despots , the AU and most importantly to the citizens of the world? It is no wonder that some of these officials play a worn out and disgraceful role, even by drama queen standards, and are still allowed to act on international stages for more Kodak moments! BTW, the recent stance the AU has taken in mildly condemninig the atrocities of few dictatorial regimes and pleading with them to reform is obviously a late and small step in the right direction. It may even seem lip service. Considering the pressure leveraged on it by most member states led by autocrats, such actions must be recognized and encouraged.

Of course, we know how the United nations or the African Union, for that matter, function or operate.

1. The black African officials who run these august bodies are powerless. In the case of Kofi Annan, despite his unwillingness to resign or confront the powers to be with a strong demand to let him tackle these problems that they hold him responsible for, after the fact, he still remains a symbolic figure. All pertinent decisions are made by the Security Council comprising of few economically and militarily dominating Nations. Each has a veto power to kill the passage of any resolutions that would affect their interests or that of their selected allies and partners. The poor member countries are also influenced by threats, ‘bribes’ such as political, economic, military aid from the rich Nations to force them support the issues the bullies push forward or oppose what they don’t like.Most of us wrongly assume that the United Nations is a democratic institution where issues are discussed freely and resolutions passed by the majority. It ain’t so. How about changing the rules to make decisions by the majority vote of all natons to reform the UN and make it a democratic body?

2. When it comes to the African Union, most of the budget and the technical assistance derived from the rich Western countries are , without question, attached to many political, military and economic strings, and therefore, it would be naive of us to assume that decisions made by the AU are free from Western influence and inputs. It must be to their likings and better not be adversely affected by it, if the assistance is to flow unabated. After all, the dictators in power today are mostly approved and assisted cronies of the West. They in turn assign individuals loyal to them to the rotating AU Chiamanship. What about electing talented, dedicated, well meaning , most importantly, independent individuals as Chairpersons of the AU by all member nations.

The misguided conclusion reached relied upon false assumptions and facts that only Meles can contain Terrorism in Ethiopia and the Horn, the decision made to make him a reliable and strong partner in the fight against terrorism, even when he commits his atrocities defying their pleadings and becoming the current emblem for tyranny and terror, is a cover up. We could easily have been convinced and would have no reason to argue about, had they honestly told us that he is the only dependable proxy they have at this time. If anything, Meles is in the process of making the Horn more of a breeding ground for terrorism as he is pushing the Ethiopian people to abandon their peaceful and disciplined struggle and fight fire with fire to rid themselves of his intolerable dictatorship. I hope his donor foreign powers and mentors will wise up and stop this madness!

Former and neo-colonialists who changed the name of the League of Nations to the United Nations have not reformed or transformed the objectives and goals of ‘their’ institution. The League of Nations was a vehicle by which the powerful nations of the time negotiated, compromised and legitimized their acts of making vulnerable nations their colonies, mostly in Africa, without going to war amongst themselves. The scrumble for Africa happened at the prime of this institution. Nothing has changed in the role of the UN, except that the publicized objectives have only become ‘civilized’ and subtle. The UN shiny floor halls and the magnificently staged pulpits are where the powers to be scratch each others backs while the poor nations are the ones truly itching from their deep scratches and bludgeoning beatings.

Despite the existence of these grand institutions to make the world a peaceful and equitable place to live in, it is still a land where those who take offensive measures, surprise nations by their first strikes or invasions, conquer lands and people still remain the winners. As the only consolation, victims are wrongly comforted and misled by the false impression and notion that they have a place and forum where justice will be delivered to them if they spill their guts, cry their eyes out and passionately plead with member nations. The chorus always condemns the use of force on a member nation, gives an ultimatum to the violators to go back to their borders, and a slap on the wrist by diplomatic and economic sanctions that are violated by the powers to be the next day, while the new gains stay in the hands of the victors, for ever.

Our hopes for the universal truth that freedom and dignity of every life in the world must be sought and respected as non-negotiable items have been shattered by none other those that claim to be the champions of such principles, time and time again. If there is a world stage where justice, peace, equality, brotherhood and freedom is craved , but “survival of the fittest” or “might is right” is practically justified and protected, it is the UN and AU. These are headquarters where Napoleon Bonaparte’s sage advise to the powerful and non- compliance to honesty and principles are truly taken to heart and passionately carried out, on a daily basis.Napoleon said, ” It is not necessary to bury the truth. It is sufficient merely to delay it until nobody cares.”

If there is the grandest assembly of them all where blame is exercised more than responsibility, it is the UN and the AU. As we all know, blame is actually not assuming one’s responsibility. It is pointing a finger at someone to shift guilt or burden on to. It is the easiest way of running away from an obligation or facing the reality. How many times have we heard Kofi Annan blaming the Security Council and vice-versa? Ours, the Africans, plights such as this article must not be taken as blaming the UN or AU, but as a legitimate complaint that we have always suffered; be it under the leadership of our kinds, the Blacks, or white officials.

If any thing, these facts should be reasons for our resolve to rely on and strengthen our efforts to liberate ourselves in unison. We must always remind ourselves that there is no alternative for unity and a coalesced front to achieve that!

CC:

H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan- Secretary general of UN

H. E. Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare- Chairperson of AU